Dropping back and punting.....

Boy oh boy.....do I have task in front of me.......and so you say what else is new?  I first need to preface this with being a person that believes everything has it's place and there is a place for everything.   Even my kitchen junk drawer is neat.   That said, there are two places in my house that I allow myself to be an absolute mess.

#1 my bedroom walk-in closet.
I used to blame the state of MY closet on my husband being in bed still in the morning or in bed already at night as the reason my closet looked like Filene's Basement after a sale.   But alas, admitting the problem is half the battle.   I confess now that I am retired and am home all day I realize it has nothing to do with him.   I know no one but me goes in there; no one sees it.  And even though I vow to maintain a visual of the floor it doesn't always happen. Yes, life would be easier if it were picked up but I have other things that are enticing me to not be stuck in a closet.  I really hope to weed out a lot of the work clothes come the fall which will be a big help.

#2 is my walk-in craft closet.  
This is where I have boxed up frames, paper mâché boxes, basket making supplies, a dresser full of larger cuts of fabrics, baskets, games, needlework frames, bags of fiberfill, rolls of batting, WIPs, UFO's, bolts of interfacing, a suitcase of my brothers flannel shirts I plan to make a quilt from,  a serger and more.   We are having more solar panels installed in the coming weeks and attic access is needed for the roof inspection. Guess where the attic access is.   You got it, far corner of the craft closet so I am in the middle of an unplanned necessity-created sort out.  Ugh.

I promised myself I would empty a shelf a day in preparation.   It is not that the closet isn't neat, the problem is that there is too much 'stuff' that I 'may' need one day that I have shoved into the closet - out of sight.    I have two shelves emptied and both twin beds in the room are covered.   I vow that I am going to have a critical eye and purge when I put it back but the first step will be to empty the closet.   After the roof inspection is completed, I will have a good old sit and sort.  I will be putting in my AirPods; putting on some tunes or an audio book; setting a 2 hour time limit; and knocking about  a bit at a time.  It is already organized, I just need to purges and I know it is going to get worse before it gets better.

As for stitching, I have made great progress on Ornaments ala Round.  I am enjoying this stitch, I just took a break from it.

I finished three ornaments since picking this back up on Monday of this week and am ready to start on a fourth.  I am in high gear now.  I have ordered the octagonal frame from Brick City Stitch in Ocala, Florida and I expect it in October but that is not giving me pause to get this finished.

I've put a few stitches in on Holly Hocks.   I did have a bit I had to frog.   I was over-zealous with the top border just stitching along and then realized Oops!  There is a break in the top border.  c'est la vie.

My order from Salty Yarns arrived.   I had told Sara to wait until all the backorders were in and send it all at once so I have been looking forward to the mail each day.





































This is Teresa Kogut's Land That I Love sampler.   I asked Sara to substitute the called for linen as I felt it was too dark.   She selected WDW Aspen in 36 count.  I am super happy with her choice.   I am still missing a few of the fancy flosses but I don't plan to start this until October 1st so there is time.

  
I am also waiting on my quilt back fabric.   It was supposed to be delivered on Wednesday and tracking shows is hasn't moved from the regional warehouse since it arrived there Tuesday early morning.   Oh well, I do have the closet to empty upstairs.

I am finding I need to create a retirement routine.   I seem to go down that rabbit hole of something I want to do and remaining singularly focused while neglected other things.  And I always thought I was such a good multi-tasker.   I laugh out loud at myself.

Has anyone seen the "Friend Stitch"  SAL from Heart in Hand on Instagram?   I am curious.   Like a need another project!  Remember NEED and WANT are greatly different.

Not much else happening here.  It continues to be hot hot hot with heat indices forecasted to be over 100 each day.  The grass is growing, flowers are blooming, cucumbers, zucchini,  tomatoes and broccoli are being harvested, masks are being worn, social distancing is still happening, daily swims are happening, and I am trying to watch some FlossTube to catch up on all the ones I subscribe to.

Stay safe, stay healthy, thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching!

Back at it.....

It has heated up here the last week so right about now, this is how we all want to spend the day......up to our necks in cool water.    

I so enjoy the being outside in the yard.   Couple that with I just can't sit and I am always putzing and pulling and pruning.   To the untrained eye there doesn't look like anything needs to be done......but to me, I can always find something I want to transplant, weed, mess with.    A couple hours turns into 3 or 4 and then I am dirty and wiped out and not in the mood to stitch.  This is what caused me to put  Ornaments ala Round aside for about a month.   But now that it is so nasty outside, I am back to stitching every morning and NOT hitting the yard for a few hours of fussing  and putzing.   

I am in the homestretch.  23 our of 32 ornaments done.  I want to get this done but I strayed to the yard and some smaller  quicker stitches.  I sat in every other chair in the house and  stayed away from stitching chair because in my mind I felt I would feel quilty not working on Ornaments.  So the break is over and I am back at it and determined not to put is aside until I am done.     I finished the blue and gold ornament yesterday and started the purple and chartreuse  one this morning.    I really love this piece but it is not one that travels well or I can take outside to work on.  Since I have ordered Theresa Kogut's Land That I Love I have more incentive to get this one completed.  

For when I absolutely feel the need to stitch outside, I am working on Holly Hocks, number two the Ladies Garden Journal Series.  

I sewed up a bunch of four inch squares using the remnants from the quilt top I finished last week.   I am still waiting for the backing fabric to arrive and hope to somehow incorporate these squares on the back.   Can't wait until it gets here,  I make my quilt sandwich and I am up to putting the binding on.   The binding is my favorite part of the process except for maybe that first wash and dry when it comes out all wrinkled up!

I made a funny discovery.   Why is it after everything is said and done and you are filing  that document you just distributed to untold numbers  that the big old typo jumps glaringly off the screen?   Same way with cross stitch I guess.   I finished this earlier in the year; laced and mounted on the Hobby Lobby box.  What do I see the other day when I reach over the box to draw the blinds up........

OMG,  what a goober.    I dotted the "T" and not the "i".    I am debating about correcting it.  I had wanted to put this in the County Fair - which was canceled this year - but it is so me to make that goofy of a mistake I am tempted to leave it.   It will become a conversation piece it some sort of way.  

Being on semi-lock down doesn't mean you can't eat good!    Mr. W. and I scored some King Crab legs and salmon at Costco on Friday.    Add some Jersey corn and garden fresh cucumber salad and I cooked us up a feast on Saturday.   There was so much we ate two nights on it.

We all are still trudging along through this pandemic but getting by.   Unfortunately fall events are starting to be canceled.   Overall, it is not bothering me as much as some others.   I have a ton of things I can do.   I behave, don't go out willy-nilly and where my mask when I have to go to the grocery store.  On a good note, I love that I am getting 3 months to a tank of gas.   Wahoo!   

 

Thanks for stopping by.   Stay safe, stay cool and keep on stitching.

A Finish and a New Start

Good news/bad news.    I made some delicious zucchini bread.  Bad news I ate the whole loaf myself.   Not in one day mind you.   And the zucchini keeps on growing!




Wahoo!     I fully finished 4th of July by The Humble Stitcher.  Just made a quick and easy little pillow which I sewed twine around the edges.   I did use the walnut spray stain.    I could have kept spraying but it is kind of like when you do you hair or make-up and think just one more touch-up and then you wish you hadn't.  The use of twine was not my idea.   I wish I could remember who posted it on Instagram .... thank you for your idea of the twine around the edge.

I started work on Holly Hock, the second in the set of  the Summer House Ladies Garden Journal Series.   The same colors are used throughout the series which helps to tie them together.  I am trying to keep current with these especially since I have two SAL's coming in the fall!!!!

I found a new place to sit and stitch.....under our new SunSetter awning.  It's great except when the AC comes on.    On a good note, the AC has been running less now that we open the awning over the slide glass door.  It is really helping keep the heat out of that room.

I finished a quilt top.  I have more intersections spot on than ever before.   I guess I am getting better at this.   I want to do something with the leftover scraps to incorporate them in the back and hope to get some squares made before the fabric for the  backing arrives.   I am hoping the online color is a good representation of the true color.    Well if not, I'm going to make it work!  I can always tea stain it if necessary.
































































How is it possible for me to get so much accomplished this week you ask......I have lost the battle with the heat/humidity/yard work and have been staying inside.   No more yard work until this heatwave passes.

Thanks for stopping by.......
Stay well, stay safe, and keep on stitching.

Every have one of those days.....

That was my yesterday.   It rained all day.  Or rather it poured all day.    I think we got almost four inches of rain.   It was needed but I sure did look like the kid who’s mom said they couldn’t go out and play in the mud puddles.    I kept walking to the sliding glass door and looking at the rain.  I couldn't find anything to hold my attention all day.  I even took a mid-morning nap!   I read a bit.   I picked up my stitching and put it down so many times.   I just couldn’t find a thing to interest me.  Played solitaire, played Sudoku, surfed the internet and was quickly bored with everything.   I was just a slug all day.  I didn’t even cook dinner.  It has been about four weeks since we ordered take-outs so I decided it was time again.  

About 10 pm last night I finally managed to finish the Fourth of July from The Humble Stitcher.   The pattern is an easy pdf download.

I am not sure how I will finish it and I hope it doesn’t languish in the basket of shame for too long.  I think one of my  2020 goals was to decrease the number of pieces in that basket this year wasn't it? 😬

Rain is coming again today and it is downright yucky outside right now.   Mr. W. has one of those handy-dandy-dad-type digital thermometers that tells us everything......sunrise, sunset, highs, lows, winds, millibars, barometric pressure and so on.   I came in from doing a bit of yard work around 9:30 this morning and it said the humidity was 87%.  When I got up I decided to spend just a minimum time in the yard and THEN shower and change clothes.   So glad I did.   I was only out about an hour and a half and was drenched.

Even Buddy Cat has decided to just lounge around.  No attacking bugs or flowers in the breeze or going off on an explore for him today.

This morning all I did was pull a few weeds, pick some veggies and helped Mr. W. install some lattice to keep Gueirrmo the ground hog out of my garden.   We had installed pickets along the bottom edge of the shed but Guillermo managed to spread a couple apart and sneak in and out to eat my lettuce and kale.   I caught him in the act the other day I didn’t even scream like a girl......I put my hands on my hips and told him in no uncertain terms he'd better run along home and stop eating my veggies and scurry off he did.  

Look what I did for fun!  Last week I hung these chandelier prisms in my garden to keep away the birds.   I bought them years ago at a craft fair and just recently found them when sorting through my plant foods and orchid soil cabinet.   It is cool to see them spin and cast rainbows around the back yard.   I know, simple things make me smile......or maybe it is the enhancement of a glass of wine in my hand that makes these appealing to watch.














So today I think I will finish my quilt top; I think I should make zucchini bread since I have zucchini coming out my ears; I think I might spray Fourth of July finish with walnut dye to give it an aged look and pick a background fabric for finishing it; and I need return to working on Ornaments ala Round.    I am close to 3/4's done and need to finish before the next SAL starts!

At least I have a plan; whether any of it is executed it a whole other discussion.





Sorry folks but other than the trees growing taller in my town, not much else is happening  here in slower-lower Jersey.

Things are starting to get scary again.   An increase in the number of cases and hospitalizations for Covid is troublesome.  More states moved to 'red'.   And now I hear this morning there is a new strain of Covid that is more contagious that has come from Europe.   I am going to hunker down and keep myself busy at home awhile longer.

Stay safe and stay healthy and remember of all the things you can choose to be, choose to be kind. Keep on stitching.  Thanks for stopping by.

Returning to a project....

is the pits........

For the last several years my daughters and I have gathered for 5 days for a stitching/sewing palooza around the 4th of July.   Due to the Corona Virus as with so many things we needed to adapt.   Amy didn't want to come down from Boston and we don't blame her.  Heather and Miki had been here for the weekend earlier in the month for his mother's funeral and since me, Mr. W., Heather and Miki have only associated with family, we felt it safe to get together for a modified sew-a-thon.

For the 4th of July, we had some great ribs, salads, deviled eggs, beans and desserts spending the time between swimming and sewing and then watching fireworks from the front porch.

Let me clarify  the sewing part of our sew-a-thon.    Seems we both did a lot of trimming as is evidenced by the large bowl of trimmed pieces.  And I admit, I contributed more than her.


Heather started work on a new quilt.   (I think this makes #5 during quarantine)    She has such a great eye for colors.  She made all her half square triangles, sub cut and made her final block.

Here's the one she just completed for her father in law using her mother in laws t-shirts.

My first project was to complete a tinted linen piece I wanted to turn into a pillow.  It is good to get this FFO.    A pillow form I have from a Pine Mountain pillow is a little small for this one and I may have to just outright stuff it.   For now, I'm thinking it will only be out 4 weeks  each holiday season  and I may be able to deal with the 'lack' of stuffing.

Really happy with the backing fabric I was able to use.   It does match the truck color perfectly even though is doesn't appear to here.

Once the pillow was done, I pulled out a quilt top I started last year.   This is where the trouble started.  No matter what notes I would have left in the container when I stored this, they would have been nonsensical when revisited.    I started to trim each block to a nice 6 inch square.   About halfway through I came across a block only measuring 6 by 5 3/4.   OK, just one I can make it work.   Rip out the seams and restitch with a scant 1/4 seam allowance.   Then there was another and another so I decided to started trimming and retrimming to 5 3/4 by 5  3/4.   So much time spent and no sewing even done.   I still marvel at how this happens when you spend so much time being precise while cutting and stitching.    Oh well......sew it goes.

Some cut and some still needing to be cut.   Maybe sometime today I will be ready to sew!

 I made a bit of progress on 4th of July by the Humble Stitcher (on Etsy).

And I'll leave you with a couple Pics of the Day that I received from my daughter in law.  Looks like Reagan liked (wearing) the carrots daddy gave her.

Thanks for stopping by.  Stay safe, stay healthy and keep on stitching.